Hasan Mahsum

Hasan Mahsum (1964-2 October 2003) was the founder of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) terrorist group in China and Central Asia.

Biography
Mahsum was born in Shule County in the People's Republic of China, and became involved with the East Turkestan independence movement early in his life. In the late 1980s, he was a lecturer in Yecheng County at a training camp, preaching for jihad against the Chinese government. In October 1993 he was arrested, but after being released following years of labor, he fled China in 1997. In 1999, Mahsum met with Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda jihadist movement, and Osama gave him $300,000 with which he could build the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). In 1999, he carried out murders in Urumqi.

Death
On 2 October 2003, the Pakistani Army attacked an Al-Qaeda training camp near the border with Afghanistan, where Mahsum had citizenship. Pakistan worked with the United States in a joint counter-terrorism operation, and Mahsum and seven other militants were killed in the gun battle.